Heritage Oil Appoints Non-Executive Director

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwire - May 1, 2012) -

THIS PRESS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

Heritage Oil Plc (TSX:HOC)(LSE:HOIL), an independent upstream exploration and production company, is delighted to announce the appointment of Colonel Mark Erwin (Retd.) as an independent Non-Executive Director of the Company with immediate effect.

Mr. Erwin, aged 49, served in the United States Army for over 25 years culminating his career as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army Special Operations Command, which oversees all Special Forces Operations of the US Army, where he managed an annual budget in excess of US$1.5 billion and coordinated a headquarters staff of more than 1,000 employees. He commanded at every level of the United States Army's most elite Special Mission Unit from Captain to Colonel and was deployed numerous times to Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa. He became a specialist in building teams of joint, interagency partners working closely with other nations' leadership, both military and civilian.

After his retirement from the United States Army in 2010, Mr. Erwin became the Executive Vice President for a defence contractor and in 2011 started Long Walk Enterprise, LLC which is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business and provides consulting and operational support services to corporate and government entities. In August of 2011, Mr. Erwin co-founded and became CEO of AFS-Global, LLC, which assists commercial entities as they assess, initiate and execute opportunities in emerging markets.

Mr. Erwin will be a member of the Corporate Social Responsibility and Anti-Bribery and Corruption Committees.

Tony Buckingham, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We are delighted to welcome Mark Erwin to Heritage and believe that he will be an outstanding addition to the Board. Mark's extensive contact base through the United States and in certain countries in our core areas will be invaluable to Heritage as we continue to expand and develop our oil and gas portfolio."

No other information is required to be disclosed pursuant to Listing Rule 9.6.13 and Mr. Erwin has held no directorships in publicly quoted companies in the past 5 years.

Notes to Editors

• Heritage is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The trading symbol is HOIL. Heritage has a further listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:HOC).

• Heritage is an independent upstream exploration and production company engaged in the exploration for, and the development, production and acquisition of, oil and gas in its core areas of Africa, the Middle East and Russia.

• Heritage has an exploration, appraisal and development asset in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, exploration assets in Malta, Tanzania, Mali, Pakistan, Libya and the Democratic Republic of Congo and a producing property in Russia.

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FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:

Except for statements of historical fact, all statements in this news release - including, without limitation, statements regarding production estimates and future plans and objectives of Heritage - constitute forward-looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results include risks and uncertainties such as: risks relating to estimates of reserves and recoveries; production and operating cost assumptions; development risks and costs; the risk of commodity price fluctuations; political and regulatory risks; and other risks and uncertainties as disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in its Prospectus and elsewhere in Heritage documents filed from time-to-time with the London Stock Exchange and other regulatory authorities. Further, any forward-looking information is made only as of a certain date and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking information or statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management of the Company to predict all of these factors and to assess in advance the impact of each such factor on the Company's business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking information.